


A Gift From Me To Yu

by pixelatedWriter



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: A majority of characters are only mentioned, By that I mean fluffy in the beginning and it progressively gets worse, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Made based off a tumblr drawing, Mentions of Souyo, No Beta, OP is bad at tags, Ren can’t catch a break, Sadly, Unrealized Feelings, Unrequited Love, We Die Like Men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 23:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20299450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixelatedWriter/pseuds/pixelatedWriter
Summary: Ren was never the one for love.





	A Gift From Me To Yu

**Author's Note:**

  * For [officers-unprepareds-art](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=officers-unprepareds-art).

> This work was inspired off of https://officer-unprepareds-art.tumblr.com/post/142441348231/wildcardshippingweek-day-4-wild-cardshadows from the wildcardshipping week. Why did I only just get around to writing this? Because I felt like it.  
Also please excuse the writing I only wrote this late at night and I’ve never written for Persona before, so everything is probably somewhat off canon but I tried my best so that’s why counts.

Ren was never the one for love. He hadn’t the time, always running around dressed in his phantom thief garb, getting closer to friends, going to school, working his job and changing people’s hearts. The idea itself never stood out to him, either. Sure, his fair share of female companions had tried to hint at their feelings, or just flat out tell him, but he always politely turned them down because he honestly felt nothing in turn.  
He had believed himself incapable of love for a while, just missing that romantic emotion entirely. Sure, platonic love he felt, he felt it towards each of his friends. Each phantom thief held a spot in his heart they probably didn’t even know that they had, nor would he ever tell them. They’d make some joke about stealing his heart, and he would give them a pity laugh since it was so predictable.  
Or maybe that was only Ryuji, but he could never be too certain.  
He had believed this for the longest time, until a transfer student showed up one day, fresh from Inaba.  
His name was Yu Narukami.  
Ren saw him as nothing special at first, just another face in the masses, someone who would call them a crook or take their side, just like the rest. This all changed, however, when he first started appearing in the coffee shop.  
———————  
It didn’t start as anything special. He showed up, ordered coffee, he’d make it, Yu would pay, drink it and then leave. A few days into this, he soon became a regular, even during days school was out he was there at the same time, ordering the same drink to the same server. Surely enough, it led to conversation. At first, it was just a normal greeting of,  
“Hello, Amamiya-San.”  
“Good morning, Narukami-San.”  
As you would. However, as the weeks passed, more was said, and he learned things about him. Ren learned that he loved cats, had a detective for an uncle and a little cousin he treated like a sister, even heard an embarrassing story about how he got wasted once and played a game with his friends back in Inaba and how practically all the girls wanted to climb into his lap and stay there when he was king. In turn, Ren told him of his cat, how he lived here, of his friends and how kind they were, though he left out the convenient details of anything that could possibly betray their identities as the Phantom Thieves of Heart. While he may have been growing accustomed to him, he knew he couldn’t be trusted with that information. Nobody could.  
——————  
The two slowly broke through each other’s poker faced facade, Ren finding it easier to show a genuine smile to him, and believing the same to be true for the other. It wasn’t long until Morgana happened to stroll downstairs, in his cat form of course, during one of their conversations. He trotted over and jumped on the counter, staring at Yu, who asked if it was his cat and then asked if he could pet him. After giving Morgana a side glance, he said yes, and Ren wouldn’t ever forget that bright smile that overtook Yu’s face when he reached out and pet the cat, who left a few seconds later.  
“Not a people person?”  
“No, not at first, but when he gets used to you he won’t leave you alone.”  
“Won’t stop meowing, either?”  
“You have no idea.”  
Of course, with Morgana knowing, the knowledge of Ren’s friend spread within the Thieves, who either asked about him or teased him for “having a crush on the dude at the coffee shop”. He ignored the teasing, especially from Morgana because he’s a CAT, and what does he know about love? Instead, he answered questions about him, answering none he wouldn’t want said from what Ren knew about him.  
With that, the coffee visits continued, and Ren kept his friend close.  
—————  
Of course, when the day finally came where Yu began to ask about the Phantom Thieves, he expected it.  
“Hey, you know about the Thieves, right?”  
“Who doesn’t, nowadays?”  
“I didn’t until Naoto- Shirogane-San, the detective friend- Told me about them.”  
How clueless is he, exactly?  
“Well, what do you think about them, Narukami-San?”  
“Amamiya, you don’t need to use honorifics, you know.”  
“I know. It’s just a bit weird not to.”  
“If you say so.” He wouldn’t drop it, Ren knew he would press again later. “I think... They’re doing something good. Even if I don’t agree with the illegality of it, they’re still doing the right thing. Vigilantism, so to speak.”  
Yu looked as if he was in deep thought while speaking, which Ren took note of.  
“So you agree with them?”  
“I suppose so.”  
It lifted something off Ren he hadn’t even known he had. His smile brightened a bit, posture becoming a bit more relaxed.  
“Glad we have the same views, then.”  
————  
Ren honestly hated his friends sometimes. At school, whenever he went to them after talking to Yu, be it for a moment or longer, they’d ask him how the conversation with his “boyfriend” went. Each time, Ren painstakingly explained that no, he’s not dating Yu Narukami and no, that doesn’t mean he’s available for you to flirt with either. I don’t care if he’s “attractive as hell”, it would be weird.  
It was no secret that Yu was a big hit with the women in school, his charming and kind personality along with his physique attracting the eyes of many. Just like Ren, he had noted, he hadn’t yet taken a partner either. Unlike him, he told them it’s because he had “someone else in mind”.  
He didn’t know why it made his heart speed up a bit, but it’s not love, certainly not love for the phantom thief doesn’t feel that.  
“Ren,” Ann groaned, snapping Ren from his trance he hadn’t even known he was in, “stop staring at your not-boyfriend and lets get back to talking. Heists. Morgana said there was a new guy. Come oooon.”  
This was unlike her, to act this way, but Ren figured it was only to drag him back into reality. With a shake of his head, he let out a breath and leaned forward a bit. Focus on the next heist, then you can ponder the friendship.  
“Alright,” he began, “So...”  
——————  
Ren didn’t know why he began to visit Yu at night, but he did. He knew his address, since the man himself gave it to him a while ago in hopes they could meet up sometime, outside of work and school. With how much he had to do, he never had, though he saw it as a lucky thing now.  
The first visit was an accident. He had landed wrong on a jump and hurt himself, and, since it was just a simple patrol he fucked up on out of all things, no other thieves were around to assist. In some lucky twist of fate, he happened to injure himself extremely close by to Yu’s apartment. A jump or two later, with Ren wondering if he broke something, he landed on the windowsill outside his apartment, breaking the lock and falling in, laying on the floor with a loud thud. It wasn’t long until Yu had walked over and let out a light gasp, kneeling beside the Phantom, more worried for him over his own well-being.  
“Can you move?”  
He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, realizing he would recognize his voice. Instead, he nodded, adjusting himself so Yu could check his leg, which he didn’t break, only twisted and it was quite the simple fix.  
Not that he knew that, of course. Yu didn’t seem to hold it against him either, instead pulling him up and giving him a soft whisper of,  
“...Good luck.”  
He had nodded, given him a grin only the joker could muster, and vanished.  
Just to return two days later with a paper that simply said “thanks” and gift, a small thing. A daffodil flower. Yu didn’t seem to expect his return, but also didn’t reject it. He allowed him in, and thus began the cycle.  
The next was a daisy, a week later. Four days, a Chrysanthemum. Two weeks and six days, a Black-eyed Susan, which he got a kick out of. A month, a zinnia. Eight days later, a lavender flower.  
He didn’t know why he gave him the flower of devotion, it just felt... right.  
——————  
“Ren, you’re in love, stop fooling yourself!”  
Morgana was at it again with his antics.  
“You go out of your ways to give him flowers for God’s sake! Just tell the man you love him already!”  
The confused look he gave Morgana set him off.  
“Are you seriously that oblivious?”  
“...I’ve never fallen in love.”  
“Well, newsflash! Now. You. Have!”  
“Really.”  
“Yes!”  
“Don’t believe you.”  
“I can list the ways!!”  
“Go ahead, then.”  
And so he did.  
“As I said, you give him flowers. You smile waaaaaay more around him, even more than your friends! Plus you just get this... air about you. Like you’re at ease. You could tell him anything, couldn’t you?”  
“Not anything, I won’t tell him about the Thieves.”  
“Of course not, you know where your loyalties lie, even when you’re a fool in love.”  
“Stop saying that.”  
“That you’re in love with Narukami?”  
“Yes.”  
“But why?”  
“Because I’m not.”  
“Sure, and I’m going on a date with Skull.”  
Morgana is oddly passionate about making him realize.  
“I think you know it as much as I do, you just refuse to acknowledge it! You’ve repressed your feelings for too long, Ren. Maybe you formed a shadow!”  
That was a horrifying thought. A shadow would only hinder his capabilities.  
“If it makes you feel any better, I can check.”  
“Please.”  
So he did. And he found what he feared.  
Not too far from Yu’s, and his own home, about half way, was a palace that took form of a house. His old home, before he was uprooted and moved here.  
Without thinking of waiting for backup, not wanting them to know what horrors could lie within, Ren took it upon himself to try and find an entrance.  
———————  
Getting in was exceedingly simple. However, the interior of the castle is what set off bells in his head.  
Not a single guard-like shadow in sight, instead his own was just staring at him like it knew he was coming.  
Thinking about it, Ren figured it would, seeing as it was a section of his own subconscious he apparently chose to ignore. He walked towards it, prepared to talk and just get this over with. Then, it started to speak.  
“Who am I trying to fool?”  
He looked lonely, a vacant look in his eyes. Ren felt... confused. What did it mean by that sentence?  
“Gifts won’t make him want me. Nobody has ever truly wanted me. Only for the front I put up for them. For their undying trust. But he knows me. The real me. He brings out what some call the best in me, and I love him so much for it. But he will never love me. Because he talks about his old Partner so much I can tell he loves him.”  
His shadow paused, staring Ren dead in the eye. It began to form a sinister, sad, angry and lonely grin.  
“So I locked away my feelings deep down inside me. And I refuse to realize them. Realize my weakness and that I- WE- care.”  
Ren didn’t know when the shadow got in his face, but there it was, golden eyes gleaming and the grin undying, though now it seemed more lonely than before.  
“I just want to be LOVED. I want to be LOVED by HIM.”  
Ren shoved the shadow away, shaking his head. No, he doesn’t love him, doesn’t love Yu. Nothing about him stood out, asides from how he agreed with his actions, listened and let him feel safe or any of that.  
“I never mentioned a name. But you know who it is a well as I do. Yu... He’s beautiful. Perfect. Not meant for someone blackened and dirtied like us.”  
“I don’t love him.”  
“Go on. Keep telling yourself that. You’ll be stuck here until you stop lying, you know.”  
Ren knew fully well his shadow likely wouldn’t release him until he finally accepted it. It didn’t help he didn’t know how he supposedly fell in love with Yu Narukami, however. Maybe it was just a gradual thing. He started falling from the start and was now in apparent love. Head over heels, as Ann had kindly put it.  
“Aren’t you tired of repressing everything? Yu is our outlet. Someone to love and trust. Can’t we have that with everyone?”  
Ren wanted to say no. That he shouldn’t bother anyone else with his issues.  
He found himself nodding, since that truly was what he wanted. The shadow smiled that sad smile, nodding.  
“You’re already accepting this reality, aren’t you. Yu opened us up a lot More than we knew.”  
Ren couldn’t believe it more. He hugged the thing, allowing it to disappear as the acceptance was finished as Ren left the palace since it was no longer needed.  
He then headed home, laying in his bed and ignoring Mona as he passed out, not budging until his alarm in the morning.  
——————  
“You love Hanamura-San, don’t you?”  
“What?”  
“You heard me.”  
Yu gave him a shocked look, sputtering something along the lines of “wherever did you get that, Ren-San?” But he wasn’t having any of it.  
“Narukami, cut it out. I know from how you talk about him. You seem... Happier. You should tell him.”  
“He’s in Inaba. I can’t.”  
“Visit your uncle and cousin and tell him. Break is almost here, isn’t it?”  
Their next heist was as well. It would help him focus, even if his heart did hurt thinking about it.  
“But-“  
“No. I want to... see you happy next time you’re here. Grinning and telling me you hold him and he told you the same because he sure as hell does from the stories you told me.”  
“...You really think so?”  
“I know so.”  
And Yu beamed that brilliant smile where Ren couldn’t help but smile back, waving goodbye before heading off to find his friends and head off to whatever class. If Ann asked if he was okay since he was carrying himself differently, he’d say he’s fine. If Yusuke took notice of how he looked a bit heartbroken or in pain, well, he’s just thinking about when their journey finally ends. If Ryuji asks about why Ren seemed more distant from Yu, well, the heist was so close he couldn’t focus.  
And, when Yu finally tells him a few weeks later, after the successful heist and every other question and excuse exhausted, that he had said yes, he would only say he’s happy for him.  
Because the Phantom Thief does not fall in love, even if he knew he had.  
Instead, he hides it all until he’s able to be alone, and finally cry. Let it all out. And, when Morgana saw, and knew exactly what had happened, for the first time he wouldn’t tell a soul what he saw because it wasn’t his business to say.  
And that’s how it was. And he accepted that.  
Because he should’ve never fallen in love.


End file.
